ObamaCare architect Baucus does switcheroo; quits

After 36 years on the job, Sen. Max Baucus, a chief architect of “ObamaCare,” won’t seek re-election in 2014.

The Montana Democrat made headlines last week when he referred to ObamaCare, a bill he was instrumental in writing, as a “train wreck.”

“I just see a huge train wreck coming down,” he warned, referring to the large number of Americans who have no understanding of how the health care law will be implemented or function in their lives.

Baucus is not alone in doing a 180 on this issue. In a letter to the administration, Teamsters president James Hoffa and other union leaders — typically Democrat allies — wrote that ObamaCare will “destroy the very health and well being of our members,” and “destroy the foundation of the 40-hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus has come full circle, going from this praiseful letter to constituents in which he spoke glowingly of the “Affordable Health Care Act,” claiming“ this legislation will benefit just about every person….it will cut our federal deficit by more than $130 billion in the first ten years and it will be a corner stone for generations to build on. Working together, we have created a more affordable, effective health care system for ourselves and for generations to come.” (Read the letter while it still remains available.)

More recently, came this exchange:

Watch as Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius bobs and weaves when questioned about specifics of the federal overtaking of the American health care system — by none other than onetime proponent Sen. Max Baucus.

No wonder Baucus is seeking retirement. Imagine having to face yourself in the mirror each morning after screwing over the entire population of the United States and having to live with your role in that deception.

Post navigation

4 Responses to ObamaCare architect Baucus does switcheroo; quits

Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said Wednesday he opposes a plan endorsed by at least a dozen Republican senators to shut down the government to block funds for ObamaCare.

Blunt joined Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday as the only other Republican senator to speak out against Lee’s efforts.

what a joke McCain is, I know it wouldn’t matter to him, but maybe the pc’s and ld’s should have some no confidence, censure resolutions against this clown. we know the azgop will never say anything bad (the truth) about McCain.

I would live to see obamacare defunded to the extent it could be in the continuing resolution, but the malevolent traitors are the same ones who were behind implementing obrewercare and are foisting amnesty upon us, so congress probably wont do it.

This is a fun article. It’s always nice seeing someone like Baucus humiliated. However, you did cheat a little, SRAZ! If we’re gonna whip ’em, let’s whip ’em fair and square! What am I referring to?

Well, the first link in the article, from the words “train wreck”, takes us to that bastion of Conservative thought the Washington Post which has this to say:

“About the Obamacare ‘train wreck’”

“By Ezra Klein, April 19”

“Insofar as the Republican Party has a strategy on Obamacare, it’s goes like this: The law needs to be implemented. The GOP can try and keep the implementation from being done effectively, in part by refusing to authorize the needed funds. Then they can capitalize on the problems they create to weaken the law, or at least weaken Democrats up for reelection in 2014.”

“So here’s the chain of events: Republicans manage to deny Obamacare the anticipated funding required for smooth implementation. This makes implementation go less smoothly. Democrats begin to worry. Republicans use Democratic worries over implementation as a way to attack the law itself.”

“Neat trick, huh?”

“My read of the evidence is that the Affordable Care Act will have a much tougher first year than was initially anticipated but it won’t be the catastrophe that Republicans hope. The exceptions will be a handful of states where Republican governors have purposefully made it a catastrophe, but that’s likely to make the Republican governors look bad, particularly if the law is working smoothly in states that have tried to make it a success.”

“Conservative commentary on the law, with its continuous predictions of explosive premium hikes (and continuous omissions of the offsetting subsidies) and gleeful celebration anytime anything looks to be going wrong, is risking the mistake that the Obama administration made early on with the sequester. When the predictions of pain and chaos didn’t instantly come true, the whole narrative shifted in an instant.”

“Republicans have done a very good job prepping the country for the pain of Obamacare. They’ve not done a good job prepping the country for the people who will be helped by Obamacare.”

An ax wouldn’t work, euby. It would take a bulldozer! The “L” in liberal stands for Lies. The left is adept at hucksterism. The shame is that so many fall for the act. Government (once known as “public”) schools no longer teach reasoned thought as a skill and too many parents are too busy to bother.

True, MacBeth. The Washington Post article is full of classic Liberal disingenuous tactics designed to mislead. I’ll take a shot at it with my “bulldozer”. ;-)

1 – Conservatives believe that ObamaCare is bad for America. You don’t facilitate something bad by funding it! Just because it became law does NOT mean that it has been transformed into something right and good!

2 – Politics is a power struggle. When you believe that a law is harmful, you use all of the power at your disposal to kill it. That is what Americans expect of their members of Congress!

3 – ObamaCare is a tax. SCOTUS has declared it to be a tax. Conservatives oppose onerous tax increases.

4 – On the ground, ObamaCare is already proving that it has failed to achieve the benefits attributed to it by Obama! That is not “theory”.

For example, health insurance companies have already withdrawn from several states, actually REDUCING competition, and health insurance companies themselves state that the cost of health insurance premiums will increase!

“Obamacare forcing insurers out of state markets”

“By Philip Klein, July 25, 2013”

“Increasing the number of insurance options for individuals was one of the key ways in which Obama claimed the law would be able to drive down insurance costs. But with less than 70 days before the exchanges are set to open, large insurers are pulling out of states as a result of the health care law, resulting in less choice for consumers, not more.”

“In California, Anthem Blue Cross, Kaiser Permanente and Blue Shield accounted for 87 percent of the insurance market in 2011, according to the Los Angeles Times, which cited Citigroup data. Instead of encouraging other players to challenge this dominance, two other insurers which controlled seven percent of the market – Aetna and UnitedHealth – have said they were pulling out of California. Together, their decisions leave nearly 60,000 Californians in the lurch.”

“The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that United, the country’s largest insurer, also declined to participate in Missouri and Illinois exchanges. The newspaper also noted that Cigna would only participate in the exchanges in five of the 10 states where it currently offers individual coverage.”

“Earlier this month, Ohio-based Medical Mutual said it would no longer offer individual insurance coverage in South Carolina, where it is currently the state’s second-largest insurer.”

“A spokeswoman for Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina told the newspaper that “most consumers will see an increase in their health insurance premium, particularly the young and the healthy.”

“Among the chief promises of Obama’s health care law was that it would make insurance more affordable. It is, after all, is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.”